Liberal Catholics adore Pope Francis. In their view, he is bringing
long-needed change to the Roman Catholic church. But this view is based
on impressions rather than real, doctrinal change. Perhaps their
mushiest belief about Pope Francis is that, with a few simple words, he eradicated the church's horrifying stance on gays. Not so fast, says Frank Bruni.
Here's a bit of his opinion piece, but go read the whole thing if you have time:
Here's a bit of his opinion piece, but go read the whole thing if you have time:
The church’s treatment of gays and lesbians is especially rife with mixed messages and hypocrisy. In schools and congregations, many priests, nuns and other Catholics state or quietly signal that they see nothing sinful in the loving relationships of gay couples, only to have more hidebound Catholics swoop in to sweep such couples away. For a gay person who doesn’t want to be exiled, secrecy is smarter than honesty, which is supposedly a virtue.
The weirdest thing, of course, is that kind
Catholics disapprove of the church's continuing pogrom against gays.
But it's hard to wipe away centuries (milleniums?) of anti-gay bigotry
by the church. Let's hope the laggards catch up, and soon. It's time to
accept gays and move on. And it's way past time for the church in all
its forms to stop firing people for being gay.
God of love, my ass.
